It appears that abortion advocates have officially lifted the ban on men talking about abortion . . . at least as long as they share their positive experiences about being a part of their child’s demise.

First, Mel has to clarify what it means by “men” and “’women,” because that’s the day and age we live in:

Editor’s Note: For brevity’s sake, we’re using the word “women” to describe people who get pregnant and “men” to describe those who impregnate them. But people of all genders can get pregnant atarget=”"_blankʺ” nd get people pregnant, and this guide is intended to be a useful resource for them as well.

Mel is only saying men get women pregnant so the article doesn’t become too wordy, but let’s not let the birds and the bees trip us up in this enlightened day and age. Men can get men pregnant, or women can get men pregnant, or women can get women pregnant, etc. Mel won’t be bound by biological sex! But to make the article easy to read, it’s bound by biological sex.

Now to the article. It starts out by saying that men largely have been silent on the abortion issue. A quick Google search shows several pieces along these same lines: Should men have a voice in the abortion debate? Why aren’t men speaking up more? Here’s Mel:

As the New York Times recently pointed out, the last time we officially considered men in the abortion conversation was in 1992, when the Supreme Court correctly overturned a Pennsylvania law requiring women seeking an abortion to get their husband’s permission. Since then, little attention has been given to men’s involvement in the abortion process, and even less to their emotions around it. Save for a few Jesus-flavored, pro-life propaganda campaigns that attempt to convince men that abortion gives them debilitating PTSD, the male experience of abortion has been, as one Swedish study put it, “largely invisible.”

But don’t let me hypothesize about why men are silent. Mel has an answer for that.

There’s good reason for that: Starting in the mid-19th century, men led a decades long campaign to criminalize abortion with great affect, resulting in the necessity of Roe v. Wade, which codified that abortion was a woman’s right, and therefore, a “women’s issue.” Men have been encouraged — and rightfully so — to allow women the space to have the “right to choose” without bogging them down with male feelings, opinions or desires. As men are still the ones who legislate our bodies, it only seems fair that they would shut up when it comes to us exercising the little autonomy we have left — or so the thinking goes. As such, men often find themselves in a tricky situation where, as one man who recently went through an abortion puts it: “My input wasn’t needed, but my awareness and support were required.”

Seven men decided Roe v. Wade. Were they not “legislating women’s bodies” because they had the correct opinion? Does the Correct Opinion™ also absolve men like Andrew Cuomo and Ralph Northam? The paragraph above also ignores the elected pro-life female legislators as well as the women who are forced to get an abortion based on her male partner’s “feelings, opinions, or desires.”

The article is full of “advice” on how men can speak up and share how abortions have been “positive” for them. Let’s take a look at their first testimonial: Colton, a Colorado bartender.

I’ve always wanted to be a father, so when she told me she was having her second abortion, I was pretty devastated. However, I was raised by strong women who taught me it’s always a woman’s choice, so I trusted her decision. I’m grateful she made that choice now — no matter how badly I want kids, I still want to have them with someone who wants to have them, too.

If I may play advice columnist for a second: Colton, break up with your girlfriend. You want to have kids, so find someone who wants to have kids, not abortions. Seems we’re off to a pitiful start with the men who had great abortion experiences.

Here’s another example of a man who had a “great” abortion experience:

Often, as was the case with Juan, those emotions can be contradictory. “It’s this weird combination of unbelievable relief and horrible guilt — a salad of intense emotions,” he says. “You know it’s the right thing to do, but it’s also the worst thing you can possibly imagine.”

The article goes on and on, but I think we have a pretty decent sample size demonstrating that abortion isn’t a positive experience for men. If the pro-abortion side wants to help men repeat a lie enough to where they feel good about it, they have a lot of work to do.

In the meantime, maybe men should start making solid, life-giving decisions in spite of “a salad of intense emotions.”